Author Topic: General Discussion and Sugestions  (Read 205410 times)

Offline Doxkid

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #660 on: June 21, 2020, 03:36:18 PM »
(click to show/hide)
I also think once an ability reaches more than 10/day it should probably be At-Will or Per Encounter, which is typically what the original monster has at that same CR/HD. Quite a few end up capable of using their basic ability a good 20 or 30 or 40 times per day (looking at you Mindflayer and Concordant Killer), which is functionally At-Will when it isn't put in an endurance test.

Samples of feats that'd fix this:

Mystical Wellspring [Monstrous]
"By force of will."
Prerequisites: *Levels in a monster class.
*A minimum of 6 Hit Dice

Benefit: Spell-Like Ability and Supernatural Ability granted by Monster classes with a limited number of uses Per Day may instead be used half as many times Per Hour (rounding down).

The choice of whether a specific ability affected by this feat is Per Day or Per Hour can be changed in the same way that a Sorcerer readies their spells for the day, typically requiring 8 hours of Rest followed by at least 15 minutes of concentrating on the abilities in question.

Mystical Reservoir [Monstrous]
"My potential is limitless!"
Prerequisites: *Levels in a monster class.
*A minimum of 12 Hit Dice
Benefit: Any Spell-Like Ability or Supernatural Ability granted by a Monster classes with 6 or more uses Per Encounter or Per Hour or Per Minute may instead be used At-Will.


« Last Edit: June 28, 2020, 10:45:06 AM by Doxkid »

Offline TC X0 Lt 0X

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #661 on: June 22, 2020, 03:41:07 PM »
Plenty of monsters have the option to choose from open lists of spells for SLAs. Something like this opens up abuses in such cases. Might be a good idea to put in a clause preventing this being used with such options.
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Offline Doxkid

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #662 on: June 22, 2020, 04:26:42 PM »
Plenty of monsters have the option to choose from open lists of spells for SLAs. Something like this opens up abuses in such cases. Might be a good idea to put in a clause preventing this being used with such options.
Got any examples? The second feat requires at least 12 uses per day as your base number, and I can't think of any monster class with an SLA that can be used that many times but is still problematic.

At any rate, give it a few modifications and toss it back toward me. Sooner or later we'll figure out a version that achieves the target effect and is more mechanically balanced.
« Last Edit: June 23, 2020, 06:33:33 PM by Doxkid »

Offline RegalKain

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #663 on: July 31, 2021, 12:28:27 AM »
Is there a reason there isn't a half-elemental template? I've tried searching around a bit, and can't seem to find one, has no one gotten around to it yet? Is it not needed? What's the deal? No rush, if it hasn't been created I'll work on it, just curious.

Offline Versatility_Nut

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #664 on: September 22, 2021, 02:53:53 PM »
Is there a reason there isn't a half-elemental template? I've tried searching around a bit, and can't seem to find one, has no one gotten around to it yet? Is it not needed? What's the deal? No rush, if it hasn't been created I'll work on it, just curious.
There isn't one, but I do wonder which you're referring to, as there's the "like X creature but actually made of Y element" templates, while I cannot recall their names for the life of me, which would be understandable as a separate one given their replacement functions, but the literal hybrids are much less understandable due to the various direct multiclassing options.

Offline Versatility_Nut

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #665 on: December 14, 2021, 05:18:05 PM »
Dumping a few that caught my eye perusing the GiantITP LA reassignment thread for future reference, may actually scratch some out later:

Wickerman: (Fiend Folio page 188)
It's a CR 11 Huge Grappler Golem-in-all-but-name (Hardness, Spell Resistance, big strong-but-lol-mentals Construct), but can catch on fire! While being immune to Fire damage otherwise, and healed by Entangle. Also has a Swallow Whole-alike in the form of a cage; if on fire, does damage to the things inside, if not, there's no damage to it.

Implementation as a monster class can have interesting notes with the manipulation of the being-on-fire property, like having a slightly longer reach of purely Fire damage, a Breath attack compromising the Encage damage, or assorted Desert Wind stuff. Can also make use of its purpose as a sacrificial totem for exotic effects tied to burning things in the cage.

Boneyard: (Libre Mortis page 89)
It's a CR 14 Huge skeletal Undead focused on Grappling. With Fast Healing, a Fort save vs. Str, Con, and Dexterity on Bites, high spell resistance, the ability to summon Skeleton minions, a Grapple check save-or-die, and rearranging its layout. Though that last one sadly lacks an express ability, it just gets loads of Climb, Jump, Hide, and Move Silently.

The rearrangement, as noted, lacks an express ability, being the fluff behind the summon and presumably the skill list. However, it allows for having a central mechanic for both the minions and the progression as a pile of numbers, making it "focus" on one method of fighting at a time, resulting in a back-and-forth of counterplay without a settled "do X to beat Y".

Skulking Cyst: (Libre Mortis page 120)
CR 4 Small Undead product of the Mother Cyst-granted of spells, they have a lot of design space available as a monster class. The "canonical" version goes +8 Dexterity with usual stealth-type skills, aided by 3/day Darkness SLA, with a hit with one of its two basically-tentacles allowing an automatic Attach that deals 1d4 Con damage per round. At 7, it pops its 1/day Necrotic Cyst SLA and runs.

What I'd look for it being rendered as is actually a parasite, where Attach turns to implanting itself for Necrotic Cyst shenanigans. Add Vile/Constitution damage outside the Necrotic spells and Attach for something to do, streamline the darkness effect, then a Mother Cyst PRC for wider use of the Cysts implanted and some method of control. Progress with Dex/Cha, flipped prominence for the PRC.

Blood Elemental/Blood Mother (Elemental here, Mother here)
CR 6 and 18 respectively, they're misidentified Outsiders with Grapple-to-suffocate, escapees take Wisdom damage. They're also immune to Mind-Affecting, Critical Hits, Stuns, and Tongues due to being "alien". Also 1/day Insanity. The Blood Mother picks up 13th level Cleric casting, SR 20, (Sp) summoning, Frightful Presence, and the allowance to speak Common plus Alter Self.

My thinking is extending the Wisdom damage with more spread out Confusion access than just the Insanity SLA. Strength/Charisma for abilities on the Elemental, then have the Mother take 2nd-level Divine spells, the Alter Self feat we have around here somewhere, and cross-class size Sense Motive and Intimidate, being 9 levels long for "catchup" casting, Fear effects, and SR.

Black Cyst (archive-of-archive here)
CR 18 Large Outsider with save-every-round-or-suck aura, Cha to AC and saves, DR 15 and Regeneration/Lawful and Silver, vulnerable to Sonic, minor Resistance to the four "main" energy types, SR 28, 100 ft. (Perfect) Fly, and it gets a 1/day or 50 damage taken recharge CL 15 Harm, alongside spitting out a random Elder Elemental when below 200 health. Can advance to Huge with +12 RHD (CR ~24), caps at +33 RHD (CR ~30). Finally, at-will Confusion and Ethereal Jaunt, as well as 1/day Insanity, Power Word Stun, and Waves of Exhaustion.

Obviously, the gimmick to go with here is spewing Elemental effects in response to damage with Negative Energy recharged by damage taken, being maddening all the while with Insight penalties and Confusion, with a small side of somehow doing this unnoticed. Constitution and Charisma bonuses, possible Strength tertiary given the room. Sometimes spit an Elemental, sometimes a reactive damage Cone, perhaps choose the element or the effect, but not both. Overall effect is likely one of the few ways to do an MMO-like tank.

Offline Storyteller_Arc

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #666 on: January 18, 2022, 07:11:16 AM »
I have a question.

How exactly do I go about submitting my own creation to this sub-forum? I have an idea that I would absolutely love to see played out, but I am unsure if it would be suitable to do so.

Offline Versatility_Nut

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #667 on: January 18, 2022, 08:56:13 PM »
I have a question.

How exactly do I go about submitting my own creation to this sub-forum? I have an idea that I would absolutely love to see played out, but I am unsure if it would be suitable to do so.
Pretty sure it's just "New Topic" button, to the right of the pages. Least, that's how it was for me...

Offline Storyteller_Arc

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #668 on: January 19, 2022, 06:27:38 AM »
Pretty sure it's just "New Topic" button, to the right of the pages. Least, that's how it was for me...

I was not talking about the mechanics of doing so. I know how to click the New Topic Button.

I was asking if it was just acceptable for me to randomly make a monster here, or if there's someone I needed to ask permission for before.

Plus remain from making snarky, completely useless replies.

Offline Versatility_Nut

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #669 on: January 19, 2022, 09:16:43 PM »
Pretty sure it's just "New Topic" button, to the right of the pages. Least, that's how it was for me...

I was not talking about the mechanics of doing so. I know how to click the New Topic Button.

I was asking if it was just acceptable for me to randomly make a monster here, or if there's someone I needed to ask permission for before.

Plus remain from making snarky, completely useless replies.
...does "just the new "New Topic" button" really not imply that there's nothing more to it? Because it was just the "New Topic" button, no permission, no previous talk, just wrote it up and posted the thread.

Offline ketaro

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Re: General Discussion and Sugestions
« Reply #670 on: January 21, 2022, 08:34:51 AM »
Anybody can submit to here. Oslecamo has a guideline on his concept for creating monster classes that can be generally followed if it helps flesh out the class. Oslecamo himself has been inactive since the pandemic began and seems likely to not be returning for god knows what reason.

Regardless, there's enough of us still here familiar with his system here to provide critique and feedback on submissions.